School Meals Contain Excessive Sugar
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Korean teenagers' sweet tooth may stem from school meals containing excessive sugar and salt.
The Korea Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that the average school cafeteria meal contained items such as anchovy fries or hard boiled potato with soy sauce containing up to 50 grams of sugar per 100 gram serving, which is even more than that of chocolate or ice cream. It also exceeds the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendation of 50 grams a day.
According to governmental research, the average teenager consumes 61 grams of sugar a day. Moreover, if a child eats three school meals a day and has a light snack, he or she may well have 100 grams above the recommended daily intake.
Experts said the news of school meals' nutritional quality is even more shocking as they are prepared by professionals. ``It means that schools should use less syrup when cooking and keep an eye on the calories for growing children,'' an administration spokesman said.
He also said the snacks and candies sold by venders around the school zones also contain too much sugar and asked students to refrain from eating them.
Meanwhile, salt intake was also revealed to be heavier than expected. The food administration found that roasted fish or kimchi contains too much sodium that can cause hypertension. ``We need to teach the young ones to eat plain and simple food rather than that with too much added flavor,'' the spokesman said.